Breaking Dawn: The Wind Demon
by MyWinterSong
Summary: the cullens meet a new acquaintance: 3 mysterious vampirelike creatues, one with a dark, tragic past. meanwhile, edwards & bellas relationship is falling apart. can one of those new acquaitances be the key to mending their relationship?
1. Chapter 1

The wind tore at my eyes, blinding my vision into a blur of various hues and shapes. I felt my stomach twist and church along with the exhilaration, for the previous dread I felt when riding was beginning to fade, replaced by an exotic revelry. Perhaps it was due to the excitement Edward exuded into me as he dashed through the forest, a facile effort.

Then it was over. Edward slid me off his back gently, placing me firm on my feet. I heard the others greet us, Alice leading the group. Her facetious character danced lithely to where we stood, beaming.

"It's time," she said breathlessly.

The others caught up to her.

"You're going down," Emmett challenged, punching Edward playfully on the shoulder.

Edward grinned back. "We'll just have to see about that," he replied.

"I'll be referee," I offered.

"Funny, Bella," it was Alice who spoke, her voice tantamount to a soft, lyric euphony roused from the horn of a trumpet. "I didn't know you had super vampire-vision that allows you to catch up with our movements."

I rolled my eyes at her joke, despite the truth in it.

Thunder split the atmosphere above us, its sound resonating throughout the forest in truculent ripples. The air was in constant uproar, tearing at my clothes and blowing my hair harshly, obstructing my view. Annoyed, I pushed it away and shivered slightly, pulling my coat tighter around me.

Perceiving my frail human endurance, Edward slipped off his jacket and offered it to me. I accepted it with severe gratitude.

"Sorry," he said. "You didn't have to come."

"But I wanted to," I added in quickly. I hated him having to be incessantly encumbered by my mortal frailties. Though I knew he held nothing against me for this natural defect, I couldn't help feeling like a minor affliction barring his path.

Was this feeling a sign of weakness? I knew that if I were to confide these emotions to him, it would sound like intelligible drivel rooted from insanity. Of course he'd blame himself. Of course he'd elaborate upon his own defects that engendered these trivial emotions. What he wouldn't understand is that these feelings sprouted my own intrinsic nature, the demon within myself, divergent from him.

"Bella?" I heard a soft voice calling to me, resembling the dulcet sounds of graceful bell tones.

I looked up and saw Edward peering at me with anxious eyes, frowning. Nevertheless, his never ending solicit expressions toward me sparked a new source of warmth.

"It's nothing. Go play your game. I'm rooting for you," and I smiled back, dispelling the harrowing thoughts from my mind.

His tension relaxed, flashing his gleaming teeth to me in that crooked smile I adored. "I won't disappoint you."

Then he was gone, leaving only a trail of air whirling in the area which he stood a fraction of a second ago.

Thunder once again broke the equanimity with its vociferous roar. Esme came to stand by me as the rest of the family broke into teams and took their positions. Edward was first to bat. As he stepped up to the plate in his agile gait, he looked to me and beamed once more. I felt my face flush vermilion as I requited his smile.

Then the game commenced. The next chain of events happened in a blur, and within a few seconds Edward was at third base with Rosalie touching the base with ball in hand.

Esme's brows furrowed in concentration, and after a second of deliberation, looked up and spoke in a lucid, harmonious voice,

"Safe."

Rosalie growled while Edward straightened his posture, a triumphant gesture.

The game began once more in like fashion. My face was composed into a tight line of resolution as I endeavored painfully to follow with the violent chain of events. Esme noted my distorted expression and let out a lighthearted laugh.

Then, abruptly, it all stopped. Emmett's hand was outstretched as his pose made out as though he were to hurl the ball while Alice was halfway to home. Edward was peering hard through the forest toward an area which my human limitations forbade me to see. I felt the air alter suddenly, as the atmosphere felt strangely stagnant, petrified into a stasis. The tension in the air was almost palpable.

I looked to Alice, and as was expected, found her face in the familiar blank phase, her eyes staring off into an ethereal dimension. Then her mind found the body, and her expressions flickered to life again. She and Edward were staring at each other with fervid intent, and the impatience to comprehend what was going on nearly suffocated me.

In a split second Edward was standing by me, his eyes shrouded with fury and consternation. He held me tight to him, and then an epiphany struck me with a daunting force.

This was just like the first time. Edward was right—I shouldn't have come.

I felt Edward let out a slight growl as a slender character emerged from the woods. The shadow from the forest trees lifted itself from her face as she edged closer to our standing. The pallid gleam of moonlight was identical to the shade of her skin, contrasting with the darkness tinting her eyes. My heart sunk as I realized, bitterly without surprise, that she was a vampire.

The sublime pulchritude of her features was tantamount to that of a mythical painting. Her nose was centered perfectly midst her oval face that was slender and smooth. The natural lashes that adorned her eyes gave it the illusion of being larger and darker than it was in reality. Her hair was dark like her eyes, and it hung in loose curls just beneath the shoulder line. Her composed posture and gait gave her an air of imperious authority and filled me with a sense of foreboding. Yet her movements were tentative and equivocal, and the chary with which she approached us perplexed me. Her eyes glared at us with such enmity that it forced me to avert my gaze. Her sentient vision refused to miss any minor detail, and the moment Edward tightened his grip around my waist, her eyes snapped in our direction. I shuddered violently with fear.

She yielded five feet from Carlisle, who stood as the leader of the family.

I looked to Edward, attempting to read his inscrutable expressions in search for a source of solace and comfort, but found none.

I felt my heart's tension loosen a bit when Carlisle's voice broke the silence. His carefully composed voice soothed my hectic nerves just slightly.

"Hello. What brings you here? If you are lost, I'm sure we can be of assistance to you. The land here is familiar to us."

The vampire girl watched him with scrutinizing eyes, and it was a wonder that Carlisle did not flinch beneath the vitriolic glare.

Finally she spoke. "I'm not lost, but your help could be of assistance."

Her voice was sharp and flowed like water. Its sound was nothing like that of which I had been expecting, for it contrasted with the soft, delicate features of the generic vampire voice my ear was tuned to hear. Instead it was strong and inflexible, as though it were a beam slicing through three layers of steel. Yet synchronously, it was smooth and elegant, with a tint of girlishness mixing in with the authoritative voice.

Another roar of thunder broke the air above us, only exacerbating the gloomy situation with its savage fury.

Now Carlisle smiled, though his eyes remained hard and hostile. "How did you know where to find us?"

"We were informed that there was a doctor in town, and the description they gave us of him sounded as though he was…not the average _human_." Her thin lips gave way to a sardonic smile. Carlisle merely returned the expression with a slight nod.

"And you suppose that doctor is me."

"Exactly. And it's not easy to miss the sound of a typical vampire game. Therefore, it must have been you."

"But you are not a vampire."

Now the girl truly smiled, though not of joy, revealing the whiteness of her teeth. "No."

Every single muscle in me became flaccid with shock. My feet slipped from the earth as I was caught within Edward's expecting arms.

"Bella," he whispered gently in my ears.

Not a vampire? The pale skin, the graceful movement, the perfect face—No. She must be a vampire. Yet deep within me I knew Carlisle was rarely wrong, and the ability of a vampire to recognize his kin was inherent within them.

Now the girl's attention was focused on me. My blood grew cold as I fought the urge to collapse again.

"A vampire in love with a human?" Her voice grew scornful. "How…_interesting."_

I was filled immediately with a powerful enmity toward the vampire-like creature. Yet I was stunned by the rapid speed with which she caught on. I heard Edward growl a warning, his tone caustic and menacing.

But the girl didn't flinch. She merely stood still, her eyes on him with a virulent glow in her dark eyes. Then Carlisle's voice broke the tension, and her gaze thankfully averted from me.

"You said you required some sort of assistance," he said.

The girl's pupils shrank, her eyes filled with torrid anger, and if I surmised correctly, with some sort of remorse and guilt as well.

"Yes," she replied, her tone somewhat less sardonic. "My companions are…hurt."

I flinched. The restraint with which she pronounced the word "hurt" only aggravated the uncomfortable churning within my stomach.

"And you're companions are just like you?" Carlisle asked, his face impassive and inscrutable. It was remarkable the imperturbability of Carlisle's character, the way he wove a cunning façade to cover whatever turbulent emotions were raging inside. I envied him.

"No," the girl said. "They are different, but not human."

Carlisle nodded once, but questioned no further to my great disappointment.

"You will have to take me to them, if I am to be of any assistance," he said.

This time the girl nodded her head in assent, and spun on her heel gracefully, beckoning Carlisle to follow.

Edward reacted synchronously, appearing by Carlisle's side within half a second. He pulled on Carlisle's jacket with force, hissing hasty, intelligible chatter into his ear. But Carlisle gave him a quick, solemn look, and then turned his back and followed the girl into the depths of the forest.

Whatever Carlisle had telepathically assured him, Edward's face now looked composed and slightly more relaxed. He returned to my side, wrapping his arms once more around my waste, supporting my tremulous body.

"It'll be alright," he reassured me. "Carlisle knows what he's doing."

But the knot in my stomach extricated only merely. "This is just like the last time," I whispered. "Only there were three vampires."

Edward chuckled, though only half-heartedly. "It seems like these Games we play bring bad luck to the bystander."

I said nothing.

I heard a low, saccharine humming emanating from Edward's mouth, and after a short while realized this was my lullaby. I closed my eyes and allowed my head to lean heavily against his frigid chest, succumbing to the sweet melody.

After what seemed like hours, I felt Edward's body tense against mine, and my eyelids snapped open, gazing frantically at my surroundings. Edward saw them before my human eyes did, and there they were—all three of them.

Carlisle emerged from the thickness of the forest, carrying in his hand the burden of a young boy of perhaps seventeen. Yet his features shocked me. They were not the pale, dark eyed, impeccable shape of beauty, but a simple visage of a teenage boy. The only contrast of him to an average human was the virility of his muscles, not unlike that of Edward's. His eyes were closed, as though he were cast into a deep, halcyon sleep.

Then there was the girl. She walked with Carlisle with that same rhythmic gait and agile steps which reminded me of Alice, and next to her walked another female creature. Her hair was a shade of bleached blonde—almost white. Her eyes were large, tinted a light hue of blue. She was slender and tall, though her movements and curves were in no where near the perfection and grace of the saturnine creature to her right. Yet her delicate features painted a picture of a soft, scintillating angel. It was odd how her typical features could strike such an image in my mind.

All four yielded five feet from us. I gazed at them with weary and searched Carlisle's face for some recourse. But he merely nodded to the dark-haired girl, extricating the boy from his arms and exchanging hold with the girl, who now laid him gently down upon the grassy lane.

"The boy is deeply injured, but the other girl is only slightly," said Carlisle, indicating to the two mysterious creatures before us. "They ask us for a place to stay over the course of a few months."

I flinched. Edward's grip around me tightened immensely, and I could feel the hot wave of anger flushing through his veins in truculent movements. Whatever Carlisle was communicating through his mind was enough to keep Edward from exposing his emotions out loud.

"Well then," was Esme's voice. "I suppose you three are very welcome." Her face managed an impossible smile, though her eyes remained as stolid as a stone carving.

I was in shock. So they were permitting entrance to these three creatures just like that? Was there no debate, no discussion, no nothing?

Alice was the next to speak. "If we are to be on friendly terms, I think names are a good way to start. I'm Alice."

Jasper joined in, reciting his name. Next was Emmett, who grinned his typical bear-like smiling, revealing a line of white teeth. His smile was the only one that even approached a true, gregarious sign of affection.

Edward spoke next. He recited his name curtly, as his voice was by far the one that held the most tension and restraint. Rosalie and Esme were next.

The dark haired girl nodded. "This boy here is Everett, and the girl is Aisha."

Aisha smiled slightly, her lips closed into a strained line. Her eyes flickered incessantly toward the boy as though she were truly solicitous of his condition. The other girl, however, revealed not even a single trace of emotion behind her cool, hard countenance.

"And you?" said Alice.

I couldn't help but note the hesitation with which the girl spoke. "They call me Faye," she replied simply.

Already we were moving, and Edward half dragged half carried me through the forest. But my legs had stultified into flaccid limbs, refusing to function by their own.

This had to do with me. These creatures were here for me. Of course they were.

What else could explain the willingness in which Edward obeyed? Surely, if it were not for my safety which was of the utmost importance to him, he would have argued vehemently opposing Carlisle's decision.

Sensing my queasiness, Edward whispered in a lyric tone to my ear,

"It's ok. I'll explain everything once we get home."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

We were sitting around the dining table. Edward's eyes were focused with fierce intent upon our new acquaintances, his vision never straying. Carlisle's face was composed as ever, a fabricated calmness shrouding his pallid face. The others simply sat, still and chary of any movement from our mysterious guests.

I appeared to be the only one who was tremulous from the current situation. I considered the scenario and came to a firm conclusion—and if I surmised correctly—they wanted me. Just like the first time. Just like every time.

The pressure was unbearable, and with a certain sense of dignity and gamely composure I slammed my fist against the table and cried,

"This is enough! If you want me, take me already! God dammit!" I spat. My chest heaved up and down in great spurts of breathes, my heart drumming heavily against my chest like a steel hammer against the broken trump of an evergreen.

Faye's eyes turned slowly to my face, scrutinizing me with her typical sharp, incisive eyes, and let out a sardonic laugh. The angelic girl beside her uttered not a sound, her eyes glued to the figure of the unconscious boy lying tranquilly upon the couch nearby.

"You? What could we possibly need of _you_?" Faye said, her tone fraught with mockery and contempt. "We came here for the vampire's help."

I blinked rapidly several times. Oh yeah. A member of their group had been hurt. Their situation had nothing to do with me from the very beginning. How could I possibly fail to notice that until now?

I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment from my little gaffe, and my body did not relax despite Edward's gentle yet colds hands rubbing the back of my spine and caressing me softly.

"Bella," he warned. "Don't get paranoid now. This has nothing to do with you."

"Paranoid?" Faye asked, curious now.

"Yes," it was Carlisle who spoke this time, though in a soft, comforting tone in which I guessed was aimed toward me. "The first time we played this…_Game _of ours, three vampires appeared."

The pallid girl was smiling now, though it was hard to decipher the emotions behind her countenance. Joy? Mockery? Yet neither of them seemed to fit.

"I see," she said. "And they wanted her." A long, slender finger pointed toward me.

"Yes."

"But getting back to the real matter…" Edward intervened, and now my body did relax slightly. The recollection of events with James evoked a maelstrom of emotions within me. I was well past the James part, but the thought of him aroused the memory of Victoria as well, which in turn awoke the vision of what had happened between me and Edward while we hid from her evil grasps, and what happened between me and Jacob…I banished these thoughts from my mind.

The girl seemed to take into account my uneasiness, but inquired no further. Nothing seemed to escape her acute senses.

"What exactly are you guys?" Carlisle asked.

Everyone at the table sat suddenly taller, ears sharp and tuned fervently to hear her story.

The girl's eyes narrowed, and with reluctance she said, "I suppose I must keep to my end of the bargain." Her eyes flickered toward Carlisle. "But it is imperative that you do not tell anyone else of this."

Emmett laughed. "Who exactly can we tell without revealing our own secret?"

The girl ignored him and her story commenced.

"Our path has been…difficult," she began. "Neither of us are the same "class"—or whatever you may call it—of creatures. But to being with, I'm sure you have heard of the three other legendary beings, and one of them happens to live close by."

My mind was spinning in rapid circles with confusion, and to my greatest surprise, Carlisle merely nodded in consent.

"Yes. A family of wolves' lives near this city in La Push," Carlisle replied. "But you're telling me there are still two others?"

Faye nodded, grinning. It was hard to ignore the immense beauty of her pallid face beneath the florescent light of the chandelier that illuminated the dining hall. I glanced quickly toward Rosalie and saw upon her face the subtle line of jealousy.

"Could it be…" Alice whispered, her voice sounding remote and distant, her eyes deep in thought. "You are Magicians?"

"Magicians?" I blurted out without rationalizing my statement.

But Faye merely nodded. "Yes. Everett is a magician—a long generation of families with magic. But there was a great war between all creatures excluding humans, and since then their numbers have decreased significantly.

The magicians, you should know, are the oldest line of mythical creatures present. They existed long, long before your time."

She eyed Carlisle with a cynical grin. "Yes, doctor, even before you."

Faye stood from her chair now, pacing lithely across the dining room, observing the house as she went on, still speaking.

"The Magicians ruled for as long as anyone could remember. Yet as time went on, things began to change. Some decided to forget Magic altogether, and thus the first humans were born. Some focused primarily on certain aspects of Magic, and soon new, more sophisticated creatures developed from within the class of Magicians. Three of them you already know—the werewolf, the vampire, and the Magicians."

Now she turned to Aisha. The soft, delicate features of her face brought upon her an enthralling charm. Otherwise, she looked as any other human girl. Neither Everett nor Aisha could even compare to the rare pulchritude that adorned Faye's features. When Faye called her name, her eyes snapped up in alarm, as though her mind had been completely disengaged from the current conversation weaving out in threads before her.

"Yes?" she said, her voice full of exhaustion and a tint of annoyance. Faye glowered back, her eyes unwavering.

"Tell them the rest."

Aisha's feeble, treacly voice was no surprise to my ears, as they matched her angelic features perfectly.

She signed heavily and began. "Magicians have three distinct types of magic. There is the Sage, who can only perform magic with a spell book. There is the Oracle, who can foretell the future, and finally, there is the healer, and healing, obviously, is his primary role."

"That's right," Faye intervened. "Aisha is a healer and Everett is a Sage."

The Cullens were silent for some time, each pondering the information and processing it in whatever direction their minds weaved. I gazed up toward Edward, but his gaze was remote, his forehead furrowed into deep concentration, though his arm clutched tightly around my waste.

Carlisle broke the silence. "And you?" he said, turning to Faye. "You are?"

The girl blinked several times in what appeared to be shock, and once more I felt that hesitation before she spoke, as though she were deliberating upon whether or not to tell the truth. The aura which radiated off her body gave me a fierce sense of foreboding, and I decided already never to trust the words that flew so smoothly from her mouth. It was as though she were a precursor of darkness and gloom.

Faye simply let out a cynical laugh and replied bitterly, "A magician, of course—a Sage. What did you think?"

From the corner of my eye I felt Aisha's body tense, then relax ever so subtly. I drew my gaze to examine her expressions, but all I found was the same, solicitous, distant look in her eyes as she stared longingly toward the boy, still sleeping calmly upon the sofa.

"But that is enough," Faye's sharp voice sliced through the atmosphere. "I held my end of the bargain. I told you parts of our story. Now it's your turn." She turned toward Carlisle.

"Not so fast," he replied. The girl tensed. "You didn't tell us the situation which brought you here."

Faye relaxed again, seeming to be relieved that Carlisle inquired no further about what she had just told him. Then she began.

"We were traveling—naturally—in the southern states when we came upon a coven of vampires. We had seen the likes of you before—your ruthless desire of human blood and warfare—and so we kept our distance. This time we got too close, and they attacked. We didn't want to fight, and so we tried to escape, but before Everett could use his magic to teleport us from the danger, he was bitten."

I saw Aisha's sudden change of countenance, as her face was distorted into a fierce expression of anger and her hands were balled into tight fists as she clutched her sides.

Faye began again. "Where Everett teleported us, neither of us had a clue, and so I went about asking for directions while Aisha stayed by Everett. The effect of the vampire venom on him was confusing. The part of him that was a Magician naturally repelled the poison, but the generations that came about after the Magicians were stronger, and already we knew that the subtle effects of the vampire venom would prevail, but its effects are much slower than an average human.

But the way it changes a human and a Magician is different. Instead of creating a new creature from the pervious one, the venom mixed in with a Magician's blood will kill him eventually.

Aisha and I both knew that the only way to save him was to locate a vampire who could help us, for your kind is the only ones who can reverse the effect.

I went around for information, gathering, questioning, and the existence of any vampire who would be willing to save Everett without fighting us on instinct or demanding something in return seemed slim….until we came across forks."

To my utter surprise, Faye's slender lips drew into a smile of relief, and beneath those sharp eyes I traced a slight tint of happiness that caused her features to sparkle and glisten. Next to her, Aisha's body relaxed and I heard her heave a soft sigh.

Carlisle nodded twice, the same strength of imperturbability across his carefully composed countenance. I truly admired him.

"How long has he been in this state?"

Faye deliberated. "About a week."

Emmett's face broke out in a grin. "Dang, you travel fast don't you?"

Once more to my surprise, Faye's eyes sparkled as she requited the grin, her face dazzling. "You have no idea," she replied.

"Emmett," Esme ordered in a reproving tone, and he backed down.

Carlisle began again. "How exactly are we supposed to save him?"

"You suck the venom out," Faye replied, her tone a-matter-of-fact.

"No." Edward's voice surprised the entire room, as it was the first time he had spoke. The way he spoke the word gave it an authoritative precision, and his eyes glowered cold and hard toward the dark girl. Then he turned to Carlisle.

"We don't know what the Magician's blood can do to you. Don't take the chance."

Aisha's gaze snapped up instantaneously into Carlisle's eyes, her vision tearing and her tone desperate as she implored him. "No! Please, you must. You're his only chance!"

Edward let out a low, menacing growl. "Selfish girl! Your boy isn't the only thing that matters."

"And if it were that girl in his place?" Aisha indicated toward me. This threw Edward completely off guard. His mouth opened, but not a single sound was uttered.

"If it were for me," I said in his place. "He would try to find other means of saving my life without endangering others."

"Bella…" Edward warned me.

In all honesty, I was completely dubious to which side Edward would advocate. If it truly were for me, would he honestly endanger others for my sake? I shuddered at the thought.

"There is another way, Aisha," Faye said as she looked from one Cullen to another as her eyes landed finally on the grief stricken face of the angelic girl.

"No!" Aisha retorted. "You _crazy_. I would never put him in danger like that!"

"Ha!" Faye scoffed. "But you would willingly surrender the life of someone you didn't know, is that right?"

Every single one of us were shocked by the solicit recrimination Faye threw at Aisha. The way she had retorted against the girl hinted at something deeper than we all perceived. Perhaps it was an event that happened in the past between them? My mind burned with curiosity.

Faye's eyes were furious toward the angelic girl, and her mouth twitched dangerously with anger.

"No," Faye said, her tone final and concluding. "We will use the second approach."

"Who says?" Aisha stood up, and though her height did not match Faye's, an equal amount of resolution exuded from her emotions.

Faye snapped her head in our direction and said sharply, "Who hereby votes that we use the second method?"

All but Carlisle's hand rose, in which he merely shook his head and stated, "I think it's wise to hear what the second method is first."

Faye's fury intensified while Aisha's relaxed slightly. Both glowered down at each other with enmity and revulsion.

"Fine," Faye spat. "If you want to know, _she_ can tell you." She accented the word in a contemptuous tone.

"There is a theory," Aisha began, "that Faye apparently believes in which a person injected with a vampire's venom will become normal again if another vampire injects his venom into the body as well. In other words, the two blood types will cancel each other out, and the person will recover as though nothing had happened." She rolled her eyes.

"No," Faye intervened. "Not just any person. It's someone with supernatural abilities. Human blood is too weak. And it can't just be any other vampire as well—it has to be one with a pure soul that can combat the stained one which bit Everett. None of you vampires, the doctor especially, smell as though you've drank human blood in a while. It will work perfectly."

Aisha scoffed, utterly incredulous, but said nothing.

"And you are certain it will work?" Carlisle asked. "There's no reason to endanger your friend anymore than he already is."

"Yes, I'm sure," Faye retorted succinctly, her tone sharp and cutting.

Somehow I had a feeling that her extreme solicitous expressions were directed more toward her heated vie against Aisha that was connected to whatever rift that occurred between them in the past than for her true care toward Carlisle. But which ever way it truly was, either worked out best for me. I could not bear Carlisle risking his life for a stranger that could prove to be detrimental to him and his family.

"Alice?" Carlisle indicated in her direction. She nodded, and I saw the familiar blank appearance in her eyes as she gazed off into an ethereal dimension. Then her expression flickered back into life, and her thin lips pressed into a smile.

"It will work," she said.

Faye flashed her a triumphant smile, and her eyes glistened beneath the florescent light. "It's settled then."

Aisha's entire body was tremulous with a passionate fury as she raised a finger toward the dark haired girl and said with immense contempt,

"If this fails, you'll pay."

Faye only shrugged.

What shocked me was that both seemed perfectly unperturbed by Alice's ability of divination. Then it occurred to me that they had come into contact with vampires before.

I looked to Edward, whose eyes were squinted into a tight focus, his eyes never wavering from Faye. I reached my hand out to stroke his face when suddenly, my cell phone vibrated violently within my pocket.

Edward's attention was averted to me now, and he smiled smugly. "We've kept you too long. Charlie's angry."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I combined my hair roughly as I was impatient to return to the safety of my room where Edward would be waiting for me. With little forbearance, I stripped my body of the sweater and jeans I had donned carelessly upon myself in the morning and changed into a more comfortable form of apparel: pajamas.

Finally, I dried my newly cleansed face and nearly burst into my room. And of course he was there sitting upon the bed, resembling a sublime sculpture carved deftly by hand of the finest artisan.

Yet his eyes were lost, gazing at some ethereal dimension, similar to his expression during the meeting at the dining room. What could possibly be galling him? It couldn't be concerning the safety of Carlisle, for we had already agreed upon the second method.

Perplexed and solicitous, I touched my hand to his gently, stroking his face.

"Edward," I asked cautiously. "What's on your mind?"

His mind snapped to wake, his eyes focused on my anxious countenance now.

Then he smiled. "It's nothing, Bella."

"Nothing?" I cried, indignant. "And this is the level of candor you express toward you future wife?"

He was really smiling now, a gargantuan grin spread out across his face, his eyes scintillating. "Wife…I like that," he said, his voice pondering and sounding remote.

"Hey," I snapped, waving a hand in his face. "I'm _here_, and I asked a question that you're going to answer whether you like it or not."

Edward heaved an aggravated sigh. His eyes closed and his eyebrows drew into a line of defeat. It took a moment before his lips parted and his voice became known. It was such a dulcet, melodic sound.

"Bella, it's complicated. I'm no where near sure of my theories, but there are mysteries evolving around that girl all right."

"Girl?" I asked. "You mean Faye?"

"That's right. The tall, dark one." He frowned. "There's something weird about her…"

"Like she isn't telling the truth?"

Edward's eyes snapped up to mine. The expression revealed upon his countenance seemed something like that of shock. His own stunned emotions shocked me as well.

"What, you don't think so? The way she talks, the way she moves, the cautiousness with which she speaks—it's sort of obvious."

Edward's eyebrow line deepened and he placed a fist to his chin, his facial expressions contorted to a portrait of extreme thought.

"Hmm…" was all he said.

"Wait," I said, realizing something. "Hold on. You…you couldn't read her mind?!"

Suddenly Edward's tortured expressions fit the puzzle perfectly. The way he concentrated upon the dark girl's face throughout the meeting, the way he closed his eyes in frustration, everything fell into place.

Edward's eyes were truly tortured now. "No. I can't, and I don't know why."

"What about the other girl? Aisha, or whatever her name was."

He nodded. "Her mind is fine—and so was the boy's. I read his dreams. Sometimes he'd be crying out in his mind frantically. Experiencing a nightmare, I suppose."

"But how is it possible?" I cried, and then immediately cramped my mouth shut, realizing Charlie was only a floor down from the spot in which I stood. Then I began in a more subtle tone, "Why can't you read her mind?"

Edward shook his head in exasperation. "It can't be because of the fact that she's a Magician, since the other two creatures' minds I can read perfectly well. But other than that, I can't come up with any other reasons. You might be right—she could have been lying to us about what she really is…"

Edward's frown deepened even further.

I opened my mouth but found no word in my inventory that could possibly efface that frown from his face. I hated seeing his tortured, frustrated expression. The least I could do was sit by his side and stroke his hand with my delicate touch, hoping it was enough.

Finally he broke away from his reverie and smiled. "It's time for bed, Bella."

I peered up at him in fury and shock. "Why?" I cried, my tone full of indignation which I hoped he read. "It's summer!"

Edward's grin was teasing. "Since your parents gave their assent to your marrying me within two months, I've come to a firm conclusion that you will get ample rest and eat the most nutritious foods so that when our wedding does finally arrive, I won't be marrying an ugly ghost." He beamed at me, chuckling slightly to himself.

I gulped. Charlie had most definitely not been pleased by my firm decision to espouse a boy just scarcely over two months after my graduation. Upon my revelation of this decision, he exploded into a truculent tantrum, nearly calling up a storm by his own furious efforts to dissuade me. Recently his temper mollified slightly by my heightened maturity, for I would stop at nothing to evince my readiness for this marriage to prove successful.

This didn't mean he had completely forgiven me, however. His temper was the complete adversary of placid, and it took careful ratiocination of every single word I would utter so that it would not rouse his volatile anger.

Renee, on the other hand, expressed a violent, overt shock at my proposal to marry Edward upon my visit to her in Phoenix, but said nothing more. She simply stood agape at my in utter incredulity, but then nodded her head resignedly and retired to her bedroom.

In the morning, however, she returned to her bubbly, effervescent personality that seemed too exaggerated for her usual character.

This disconcerted me a lot, naturally. It hurt tremendously to imagine that her feelings could be a fabricated façade to hide her disapproval from me, but I had made a commitment that I planned firmly to carry through. If the cost of spending an eternal life with Edward was to upset my parents—no matter how solicitous my feelings inclined toward them—I would take it. I recognized that cost from the very incipience of our relationship. There was no reason to withdraw from this commitment now—I was in too deep.

"A ghost is nothing in comparison to a vampire," I whispered softly.

Edward's smile faded synchronously upon hearing my words, and in its place was an inscrutable, hard line. It was impossible to read what emotions were churning behind those golden eyes.

"Fine," I said. I didn't want to exacerbate his frustration, and so I backed down, attempting to appease him. "I'm giving in for the night."

A renascent smile broke out anew upon his marble face. "Good girl," he said, his tone facetious.

I jumped upon my bed, pulling my covers over me and reaching out for Edward's hand. He lay softly beside me, placing himself close to the warmth radiated from my body. From his throat came the emollient euphony of his voice humming my lullaby, and I felt gradually the effects of the soporific melody drawing my eyes to a close and my mind into a dreamlike state. But before I allowed myself to succumb to this yearning, I lifted my eyes to his and said,

"What are you going to do about it?"

He looked at me, perplexed. "About what?"

"About the girl," I replied. "About Faye, and the others."

His eyes grew thoughtful. "Alice might know something about it. She's had previous knowledge with Magicians before. She was telling me through her mind earlier today that she read something about it in our library, but it was only a short passage. I think I might search through Carlisle's library tomorrow. Half the books are obsolete, and I won't be surprised if I dig up some interesting material that Carlisle himself didn't know he had."

"Oh," I said. "Let me help you. I'm pretty professional at searching for books in libraries."

I heard him chuckle softly, for already the powerful drug of sleep was overpowering my senses. I felt a cold hand stroking my face.

"Now, now, Bella," a sonorous voice spoke, though it sounded distant. "Sleep, love."

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Next chapter preview:  
Edward goes to search his house's library while Bella gets a call from Jacob who implores her to visit him for the last time.  
Edward, meanwhile, discovers some fascinating information that may just unravel the truth behind Faye...

[note: the chapter previews might change in the actual chapters so dont rely 100 on it :)


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